Clarion hires Raymond Monica as football coach

Clarion filled its football vacancy Thursday by naming Raymond Monica head coach.

The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference school did not retain Chris Weibel, who guided the Golden Eagles for seven seasons but saw the team finish 0-10 last year.

Assistant Matt Hanhold served as interim head coach while Clarion looked for Weibel’s replacement. The man they found knows the PSAC well.

A former coach at Kutztown, Monica brings three decades worth of experience, including success in the PSAC East, where he is a two-time coach of the year.

He guided Kutztown from 2006-12 and led the Bears to back-to-back NCAA Division II Super Region I appearances. He was the PSAC East and American Football Coaches’ Association Region 1 coach of the year in 2010 after the Bears won 10 games and scored 466 points.

“I look forward to arriving and beginning to build relationships with players, the campus and other members of our community,” Monica said in a news release. “Golden Eagle fans are passionate about this program, and I am excited to for the chance to return to the PSAC.

“My family and I are thrilled to return to Pennsylvania and become part of the community.”

Monica added a second conference coach of the year accolade in 2011 as Kutztown won the PSAC title.

School records from that year — for wins (11), rushing yards (2,576) and total offense (6,048) — still stand.

The Bears won their first Division II playoff game in the 96-year history of the program on Monica’s watch.

Monica spent the last three years at Southeastern Louisiana, which made the Division I FCS playoffs in 2019 and ‘21, winning a pair of first-round games.

Before his stint there, Monica was the head coach at Arkansas Tech for five seasons. The team, called the Wonder Boys, made two playoff appearances and won the CHAMPS Heart of Texas Bowl in 2015.

He also was an assistant at Temple from 1997-2005 and North Alabama from 1989-97.